KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has projected that Sabah needs an additional 4,648 medical doctors, based on its target ratio of one doctor for every 400 people in the population.
Based on data shared by the Sabah state health department (JKNS) in a December 15 meeting, as sighted by CodeBlue, there are 4,708 doctors in the state this year, comprising house officers (HO), as well as medical officers (MO) and specialists in both the public and private sectors.
This translates to a doctor-to-population ratio of 1:795. Achieving a 1:400 ratio requires 9,356 doctors, hence there’s a shortfall of 4,648 doctors.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) target doctor-to-population ratio is 1:225, lower than MOH’s 1:400.
Although the Sabah state-wide doctor-to-population ratio is 1:795, there is a wide disparity of the ratio from 1:268 in the state capital of Kota Kinabalu to 1:14,675 in Kalabakan.
Only Kota Kinabalu (1:268) and Keningau (1:381) met MOH’s target 1:400, with JKNS estimating 674 and 15 excess doctors in both districts respectively.
Districts reporting smaller ratios than the statewide 1:795 also include Beaufort (1:585), Lahad Datu (1:771), and Tawau (1:775). Most districts reported doctor-to-population ratios of above 1:1,000 or 1:2,000.
Of 2,041 medical doctors in Kota Kinabalu, 278 are MOs and specialists in the private sector. Hence, even if these were removed from the equation, the state capital would still have an excess of 396 doctors. But Kota Kinabalu’s 1:268 ratio is close to WHO’s 1:225 target.
Of the total 4,708 medical doctors in Sabah, 655 are MOs and specialists in the private sector, leaving 4,053 HOs, MOs, and specialists in public service, including contract staff.
For a population of 3,742,202 people in Sabah, the doctor-to-population ratio increases from 1:795 to 1:923 if private doctors are excluded. JKNS data did not specify the number of HOs in the state.
According to JKNS, 2,884 MOs are serving in Sabah this year, including 507 contract officers. Of 2,801 permanent positions for MOs, 2,377 are filled, while 424 are vacant.
A total of 388 MOs in Sabah are on Hadiah Latihan Persekutuan (HLP) scholarships; not all of them are serving in the state. Hence, even though data shows 2,377 MOs in Sabah, not all of them may be physically located in the state.
